Plenary Session Transcripts

Governors Attending:

Guests:

Discussion Subjects:

Legislation and the farmer; industrial code and human economics; St. Lawrence Deep Waterway; conservation and utilization of natural resources; reorganization of state government; citizenship; state budgets; America Adrift; Ku Klux Klan: The Problems It Attacks and the Problems It Creates

Points of Interest:

With respect to agriculture, Governors discussed the depreciation of prices resulting from agricultural overproduction that had been urged during World War I. One solution offered was to find foreign markets for American surplus, but because postwar conditions in Europe made American products unaffordable, it would be necessary to extend credit abroad as well as to farmers in the United States.

Mention was made of the Colorado River Commission's recent meeting in Santa Fe, which had resulted in a three-state agreement--the first of its kind--with respect to the states' competing water claims.

Particular attention was paid to the Ku Klux Klan, whose influence was spreading across the country. Governor Ben Olcott of Oregon reported that the Klan had been influential in securing enactment in his state of legislation making public education compulsory--not for the sake of ensuring open access to education for all, which was already a matter of law, but as an attack against Catholicism and parochial schools. Governor Henry Allen of Kansas said that he had ordered his Attorney General to bring action to have the KKK expelled from the state, where they had no charter. However, in response to the suggestion that the Klan be outlawed, Governor Cameron Morrison of North Carolina said: "...you will never destroy it by mere fiat of law. It must be met with argument..."

Although the issue of prohibition was not on the agenda, Governor John Parker of Louisiana spoke out against it, recommending that in view of the 18th Amendment's failure to stop the production and sale of liquor, it would make more sense to enact uniform state laws regarding liquor's distribution.

Memorable Quotes:

Governor James Hartness of Vermont said: "Since man is something more than a physical body, his work must be one in which he feels an interest and satisfaction...Industries and the workers go forward by actual work, not on manipulation of stocks, bonds, laws and schemes to wreck or boost for temporary gain of some one interest."

Governor Thomas Campbell of Arizona said: "In the West we have our public domain problem, vast areas of land to which the government remains title, and for that reason cannot be improved...It is evident for reasons too patent to expatiate upon, that 'East and West can never meet' on these questions as there is no bond of sympathy to bring them together. The South has its racial question which is not understood by the East, West, or North. What then is the common ground on which we can all meet and enter into a compact for the good of the whole...The answer is simple--reclamation of our arid and wet lands...Within the state of Arizona there has been witnessed a wonderful transformation from desert to garden spot, the wedding of the waters to the soil and a resultant Garden of Eden. I refer to the Roosevelt project, which has made the waste places of the Salt River Valley bloom and caused mother earth to yield fruits and harvests in abundance."

Governor Albert Ritchie of Maryland said: "We felt that the extension of suffrage to women carries with it a joint responsibility upon women and men for the administration of public affairs. This means that women should be appointed on state boards and commissions, particularly in those fields of work where woman's training, interest or experience especially qualifies her."

Governor John Parker of Louisiana said: "I question the propriety of prohibition...I am not an advocate for liquor...but when we all know that the experiment that has been tried for the last four years is a failure; when we know that the people are manufacturing light wines and beer and home brews...you can draw your own conclusions in response to it."